A well-argued, approachable challenge to society’s preoccupation with the potential of genetic science.
Myles questions contemporary society’s preoccupation with population genetics.
Since scientists first sequenced the human genome two decades ago, there has been an “obsessive search for genetic explanation” for diseases, traits, and innate behavioral abilities, writes the author. A medical doctor and clinical researcher with The National Institutes of Health, Myles notes that, despite the revolutionary promises of genetic research, Americans today are even more unhealthy than they were before the completion of the genome project, citing record-high rates of food allergies, asthma, and diseases involving the immune system. Challenging the work of Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene, 1976) and Kathryn Paige Harden (The Genetic Lottery, 2021), this book argues that far too much weight has been placed on “genetic determinism.” While offering clear rebuttals to right-wing attempts to utilize debunked IQ science for racist purposes, the book focuses on the author’s own research on eczema, positing that an emphasis on genetic determinism among those researching allergies and rheumatology is “doing active harm to medicine and society.” Population genetics also distracts from what Myles believes are far more pressing issues, such as disease prevention and environmental concerns. “Genetic fanfare stole our collective focus,” he writes, as we have “stripped the key nutrients from our food” and “swaddled our children in baby blankets made from the chemicals found in car exhaust.” Acknowledging that his colleagues at the NIH may not agree with his skepticism regarding genetics, the author offers a nuanced, convincingly substantiated counternarrative from the vantage of an expert in his field. While the book’s almost 500 pages offer fellow researchers ample material for scholarly discussion, Myles balances its academic methodology with an engaging, jargon-free writing style. Bolstering this accessibility is the inclusion of multiple full-color images, charts, and diagrams. While appealing to lay readers with pop culture references generally works for the book’s narrative, it perhaps gives the 1997 SF thriller Gattaca an undue amount of attention (including referencing the film in its title).
A well-argued, approachable challenge to society’s preoccupation with the potential of genetic science.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9798989230914
Page Count: 474
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.
A warts-and-all portrait of the famed techno-entrepreneur—and the warts are nearly beyond counting.
To call Elon Musk (b. 1971) “mercurial” is to undervalue the term; to call him a genius is incorrect. Instead, Musk has a gift for leveraging the genius of others in order to make things work. When they don’t, writes eminent biographer Isaacson, it’s because the notoriously headstrong Musk is so sure of himself that he charges ahead against the advice of others: “He does not like to share power.” In this sharp-edged biography, the author likens Musk to an earlier biographical subject, Steve Jobs. Given Musk’s recent political turn, born of the me-first libertarianism of the very rich, however, Henry Ford also comes to mind. What emerges clearly is that Musk, who may or may not have Asperger’s syndrome (“Empathy did not come naturally”), has nurtured several obsessions for years, apart from a passion for the letter X as both a brand and personal name. He firmly believes that “all requirements should be treated as recommendations”; that it is his destiny to make humankind a multi-planetary civilization through innovations in space travel; that government is generally an impediment and that “the thought police are gaining power”; and that “a maniacal sense of urgency” should guide his businesses. That need for speed has led to undeniable successes in beating schedules and competitors, but it has also wrought disaster: One of the most telling anecdotes in the book concerns Musk’s “demon mode” order to relocate thousands of Twitter servers from Sacramento to Portland at breakneck speed, which trashed big parts of the system for months. To judge by Isaacson’s account, that may have been by design, for Musk’s idea of creative destruction seems to mean mostly chaos.
Alternately admiring and critical, unvarnished, and a closely detailed account of a troubled innovator.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781982181284
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
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The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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